Hawkeyes holds off Kansas at the Sanford Pentagon
The signage in the arena said Sanford Pentagon, but it felt like home for the Hawkeyes, as a pro-Iowa crowd packed into the 3,200-seat Sioux Falls arena to watch them take on Kansas. The lead never felt 100% comfortable, but Iowa held off the Jayhawks for a 71-58 victory to move to 5-0 for the first time since 2017.
“It wasn’t a pretty game. I think both teams were keying on the other team’s strengths,” said head coach Jan Jensen. “They made it really hard for Addi and Hannah and we weren’t running our offense smoothly either…at the end of the day, you get a win against another Power 4 team.”
Jan Jensen is right. It wasn’t the prettiest game for either team, but the Hawkeyes never let Kansas feel like they had a chance to win. Jumping out to an 18-4 lead after the first quarter was paramount in a game that was back-and-forth for the majority of the night.
“We made it hard for them to do what they wanted to do, and I think that was the key to that first quarter,” said Jensen. “We really came out and focused on defense, and then we were a little freer flowing in our offense.”
Missing a couple of their normal starters due to injury, the Jayhawks struggled to settle in during the first quarter. Although it was a neutral site, the crowd was 90-10 in favor of Iowa. Kansas head coach felt like his team played a little off balance in the first quarter facing what felt like a road environment.
“We knew it would be a difficult atmosphere,” said Schneider. “We played on our heels (in the first), and we’ve got two starters out. I’m not making excuses; but we had some young players who were playing against one of the hottest programs the last few years in a road game. I thought once we overcame that a little bit, we were fine.”
Iowa defended well in the opening quarter, holding the Jayhawks to 1 of 12 (8.3%) shooting. Meanwhile, a three-pointer from Taylor Stremlow expanded the Hawkeyes lead to 14-4 and forced Kansas to take a timeout with the crowd on their feet. A couple more baskets closed out the first ten minutes with the lead sitting 18-4 in favor of Iowa.
From there, it felt like a weird game. The Jayhawks were able to stay in it behind 15 first half points from North Dakota State transfer Elle Evans, but the Hawkeyes never let the lead dip to a threatening level. A 7-0 run cut the lead to 28-20, but a pair of Teagan Mallegni three-pointers helped Iowa go into the half with a 38-27 advantage.
“(Kansas) really kind of conglomerated in (the paint),” said Jensen. “They were really physical with us on our cuts, it’s kind of hard to get that free movement. We were too tight, and we needed to be spread out.”
Into the second half, it felt it always felt like both sides were a couple of stops and a couple of baskets from changing the complexion of the game. However, neither side was able to string together a run, and Iowa continued to protect their comfortable lead. Midway through the third, Kansas cut the lead to ten points, but a three-pointer and a jumper from Lucy Olsen pushed the lead back to 49-34. She finished the game with a team-high 16 points and six assists. Olsen also hit a season-high three three-pointers on five attempts.
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“I think my percentage was like 10% going into the game, so that was awesome to look at,” Olsen sarcastically said in the postgame press conference. “It felt really nice to see them going from the three-point line and hopefully it keeps going…I’ve been working on my shot, I talked with Coach (Jan) a little bit, maybe that helped.”
At one point, the Iowa lead ballooned to 17 points, but the Jayhawks had one late push early in the fourth quarter. S’Mya Nichols is one of the great young guards in the Big 12, but she struggled, shooting just 6/18 (33.3%) from the floor. She finished with 26 points due in large part to 12 points from the free throw line, which helped Kansas close the gap to 60-50 with 7:47 to play.
“We just didn’t get the ball reversed as easily and smoothly (as we wanted) and I think we forced some ill-advised decisions,” said Jensen. “But the positive is that this team never got down. I thought we lost our composure a little bit at the beginning of that fourth quarter. I just told them, don’t give it away. You’ve got to find a different way to win…I’m glad we won this game. That was an emotional turnaround from the game on Sunday. This is a pretty intense two-week stretch for us.”
In the end, the Hawkeyes did what they had to do to come out with a victory. After a pair of made free throws from Hannah Stuelke, Kylie Feuerbach converted a driving basket, plus the foul to extend the lead back to 67-52. Feuerbach added another driving layup a couple of possessions later and Iowa was able to hang on for the 71-58 victory.
“We didn’t get the key stops when we needed to, and then I thought we missed some open shots when we could have gotten it under ten,” said Coach Schneider. “We knew that if we could have it in the 60’s, we would have a chance, so pace wise we were happy with our execution. You just have to keep stringing stops together.
Along with Lucy Olsen, Hannah Stuelke tied for a team-high 16 points, ten rebounds and four assists, while Addi O’Grady added nine points and three rebounds. For the night, Iowa shot 25 of 55 (45.5%) from the floor and 8 of 21 (38.1%) from three-point range, with four different players hitting a three. The Hawkeyes outrebounded Kansas 33-26 and held a 10-2 advantage in second chance points. Defensively, they forced S’Mya Nichols and Elle Evans to carry the load, and held the rest of the Jayhawks to 4 of 16 (25.0%) shooting.
Up Next: The Hawkeyes return to Iowa City on Sunday afternoon for a matchup against the Washington State Cougars. Tipoff is set for 3:00pm CT on the Big Ten Network.
